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<table class="sectionsummary"><tr><td width="68px">
<img src="../images/b64x64_doc.png" width="64px" height="64px"
class="singleimg" align="left" alt="Help" />
</td><td valign="middle"><h1>First Steps Tutorial</h1><br />
A short tutorial showing you the basic usage of KeePass.
</td></tr></table>

<p>This short tutorial will show you how to actually use KeePass. It describes
only the basic usage, advanced features are covered on separate pages.</p>
<br />

<p><b>Creating a new database</b></p>

<p>The very first step is creating a new password database. KeePass will store all
your passwords in such a database. To create one, click
<i>'File - New...'</i> in the main menu or click the leftmost toolbar button.
A window will appear, which prompts you for a master password and/or key file.
The database will be encrypted with the password you enter here. The password
you enter here will be the only password you'll ever have to remember from on
now. It should be long and built up of mixed characters. Keep in mind that when
someone gets your database file and guesses the password, he could access all
passwords you stored in the database.</p>

<p>For this tutorial, we'll just use a password, not a key file. Click into the password edit
field and enter a password of your choice. The password edit control isn't limited in length, so
feel free to even enter a whole sentence (just keep in mind that you'll need to
remember it).</p>






After clicking [OK], a second dialog appears. In this dialog you can configure
some generic database properties. For now, just leave everything as it is and
click [OK].


<p>Now you see the main window. On the left, you see the entry groups. On the
right, you see the actual password entries. The password entries are
grouped together into the password groups you see on the left. So, depending
on which group on the left you selected, it'll show you the entries in this group
in the right view. KeePass has created a few default groups for you, but you're
totally free to delete them and create your own ones.</p>
<br />

<p><b>Adding an entry</b></p>

<p>Time to store your very first password in the KeePass database! Right-click
into the right password entry view and choose <i>'Add Entry...'</i>. A window
will pop up. In this window you can now edit your entry: enter some title for
it, an username, an URL, the actual password, etc. If you don't need some of the
fields, just leave them empty. When you're done, click [OK].</p>

<p>You'll see your new entry in the password list on the right now.</p>
<br />

<p><b>Using entries</b></p>

<p>You got the new entry in the password list now. What can you actually do with
it now? Right-click onto the entry.</p>

<p>You have several options now. You can for example copy the username of the
entry to the Windows clipboard. When you've copied it, you can post it into
any other program of your choice. The same works for copying passwords.</p>

<p>Alternatively, you can drag&amp;drop fields into other windows. To see an example
of how this works, see this page:
<a href="usingpws.html#dragdrop">Drag&amp;Dropping Fields</a>.</p>

<p>KeePass can open the URL you specified. To do this, just click <i>'URL(s) - Open URL(s)'</i>
in the context menu. KeePass will start the default browser and open the specified
URL.</p>
<br />

<p><b>Saving the database</b></p>

<p>It's time to save our database. Click onto the <i>'Save'</i> toolbar button
(looks like a disk; 3rd toolbar button). As you're saving the database the
first time, you now have to specify a location
where you want the database file to be stored.</p>
<br />

<p><b>More</b></p>

<p>That's it! You've made the first steps in using KeePass! You can now have a look
at the more advanced features of KeePass.</p>

<p><a href="keys.html">Passwords and Key Files</a>: In the tutorial above we've encrypted
the database using a password. But KeePass also supports key files, i.e. you can
lock your database using a file (which you can carry around on your USB stick
for example). It even supports combining those two methods for maximum security.</p>

<p><a href="tans.html">TAN Entries</a>: TAN entries are one-time passwords. Many
banks are using TANs for better security. KeePass supports TAN entries, by
making them expire automatically when using them.</p>

<p><a href="autotype.html">Auto-Type</a>: The auto-typing functionality is a very
powerful feature. In the tutorial above you've copied the username and password
of an entry to the clipboard. Wouldn't it be nice if KeePass would just type
those strings for you into other windows? Wouldn't it be nice if you could define
whole sequences of keypresses that KeePass should type for you? That's exactly
what the Auto-Typing feature does: it sends simulated keypresses for you to
other windows!</p>

<p><a href="autourl.html">URL Field Capabilities</a>: The URL field supports URLs
of course. In the tutorial, you've learned that you can enter simple URLs into
this field and KeePass will open the browser window for you. But the URL field
can do more! It actually supports many different protocols (not just <code>http</code>)
and supports executing
Windows command lines through the <code>cmd://</code> virtual protocol. The
field also features a powerful substitution engine, replacing codes
by other fields (username, password, ...) of this entry.</p>

<p><a href="cmdline.html">Command Line Capabilities</a>: You can open .kdb files by
passing the filename to the KeePass executable file. But did you know that you can
also send the password for the database and key file location over the command line?
You can also use the command line to pre-select a key file for you.</p>




<p><a href="../v2/plugins.html">Plugins</a>:


KeePass features a powerful plugin architecture.
If you miss some functionality, have a look at the plugins page to see if there
are other people that have already written plugins for this. Many plugins exist
to import/export data from/to other file formats.</p>

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